Thank you Plymouth for helping us on the right track to a cleaner, greener city

Plymouth City Council is publishing its latest statistics on recycling, waste collections and customer services, and wants to thank local residents for their cooperation and patience over the past 12 months. During this time there have been major changes in the way our waste and cleansing services are delivered, not least of all the introduction of alternate weekly bin collections in May 2017, in line with most other councils.

Figures presented to Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 7 March show that recycling rates are up on the previous year 38.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2017/18 compared to 36.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2016/17, reuse or refurbishment of household items has increased, and composting was also higher than the previous year.

As expected with any major service change, there was initially an increase in calls but this has gone down over time.

Leader of Plymouth City Council, Councillor Ian Bowyer, said: “I want to start by saying a huge thank you to all our residents in Plymouth for their cooperation in helping us to increase recycling rates and make our city cleaner and greener. The figures are encouraging; we know this has been a challenge for the city and there is more to be done. We continue to strive to improve the service we offer our residents and ask for your continued support.”

Cllr Mike Leaves, Cabinet Member for Street Scene and the Environment.

Councillor Mike Leaves, Cabinet Member for Street Scene and the Environment, said: “As part of the Plymouth Plan, we want to achieve a 50 per cent recycling rate for Plymouth by 2034 so we are definitely moving in the right direction – it is great to see that more of our residents are recycling, re-using and composting, we can still do more.

“For example, please double check what you recycle in your green bin as if your bin is contaminated with non-recyclable waste such as nappies our crews would not be able to collect it.

“We will continue to work with our team to improve services for residents and get recycling rates up, whilst working closely with our Public Protection team to tackle littering and fly-tipping.”

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